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with modern cars this isn't nearly the problem it used to be, I almost never see rust on cars/trucks here in the upper midwest anymore, not like 20 years ago.

and not to start a fight at all- I love the South and Southerners- but the heat kills far more people than cold does. This is just a fact. The heat, although seemingly more popular, is far more dangerous than cold. Far more people die from heat exhaustion and heat stroke than freeze to death.

I do think it's funny when people say "the south wouldn't be so popular without air conditioning" .... like the North would be real popular without furnaces.

When I first moved here, I used to be cold with the AC set at 74. Now, it doesn't bother me and feels nice. Last year at work, I used to volunteer to get the kids breakfast so I could go into the walk in fridge (30s?), in short sleeves, capris, and flip flops. It was lovely in there. I used to stay in there as long as possible. People thought I was crazy. It was 9 degrees last January when I was in NY. I had a down coat on with a wool sweater underneath. I had to take off the sweater because I was sweating.

Maybe I am just weird, but each year I am here my tolerance for heat lessens, and it seems I am able to tolerate cold much more than before.

I do not dispute what you say....I'd rather the cold also and the heat bothers me more each year......but your body adjusts to where you live...but my thermostat is set for cold...LOL.

I agree it's mostly just about what they're used to. However I don't think it's universal. I liked the cold when I was a kid in Arkansas.

Body type also matters. If you are "tall and lanky" your body will, generally speaking, lose heat faster so you will likely prefer warmer. If you're "short and squat", as I am, your body retains a good deal of heat on its own so you likely will prefer cooler. I think the South has a fair rate of obesity, but I don't know its average height. If my theory is correct short overweight Southerners shouldn't complain of the cold so much.

(Off-topic but going by this I would say the Sudanese and Rwandans, by selection or design, are likely "made for warm climate." They tend to be long and lanky in body-type with dark-skin to prevent burning or cancer. However I believe many Sudanese settled in places like Minnesota so who knows.)

Yeah I am long and lanky... never got used to the Chicago winters...Though I liked the city a bunch I was pretty miserable there from Dec-March. I'm 6'4" and 190 and also grew up in Florida. My hands and feet get cold even if it is like 65 indoors
I like the heat and sun, just not the humidity...I go in the dry sauna pretty often.
I never was *scared* of it though...just not preferable.

I have a friend from Nigeria who went to Boston College for one semester and transferred because she couldn't take the winter.

Here in San Diego, it's been getting down to the mid 50s during the night for the past week or so. My husband, who was born and raised in South Florida, gets freezing cold--whereas I, who lived in Florida, but also lived in Boston, feel comfortable. Everyone's different and it depends on what someone is used to.

What's amazing to me is that 30 or 40 years ago, winter and cold weather was considered a normal part of the American experience and lifestyle. But today, it's widely considered to be a dreaded, exotic, undue hardship. I can only guess that this change in attitude is because the population in the South and West (warmer climes) has exploded over the last few decades, and we now have many more Americans who (since birth) have known nothing of winter, or even of temperatures that get cooler than 50 degrees.

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